5 biggest takeaways from the Vikings loss to the Ravens in Week 9

Penalties were an absolute killer

There were some questionable calls in this game. The “horse-collar” tackle by D.J. Wonnum Is the most obvious of these calls, but Minnesota still gave up far too many yards on penalties even if that call were made properly.

Eight penalties were accepted against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday and resulted in a loss of 107 yards. Against a team as explosive offensively as Baltimore, giving away free yardage is not going to help anyone get a victory.

In a game where Kirk Cousins only threw for 187 yards and the team only gained 131 yards on the ground, that can be a killer. A team needs to play well, move the ball, and control the clock if they want to make up for penalties, and that just didn’t happen in Week 9.

If you add the 107 penalty yards to the 500 total yards of offense Minnesota gave up on the day, that means the Ravens had a total net gain of over 600 yards on the day. When looking at those numbers, it’s shocking the Vikings were in this game at all.